Senior BJP politician and former Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has said that his remarks on party indiscipline were not intended to offend the “Bombay Boys”, following a controversy over the remarks.
Mr. Eshwarappa said in a news conference on Wednesday in Shivamogga that he had not mentioned the ‘Bombay boys’ —Congress and JD(S) lawmakers who quit their positions to join the BJP in 2019 and overthrew the JD(S)-Congress administration—in his earlier press conference in Hubballi.
“My statement in Hubballi was misinterpreted by a section of the media. I spoke about indiscipline in the party and claimed that the BJP had also been affected by the indiscipline-prone Congress party. But my remarks weren’t directed at people who joined our party,” he clarified.
The reported statements, he said, had hurt the leaders who joined the party in recent years. “I was also hurt as I came to know that they were all hurt. Our party came to power because of them, and I also became a Minister because of them,” he said.
Commenting on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement to probe the alleged scams of the BJP regime, Mr. Eshwarappa said let them probe first. “Instead of giving statements, let them probe. The government is attempting to deflect public attention by making such statements since they have been unable to fulfil the guarantees promised during the elections,” he claimed.
Answering a question, he said his son K.E. Kanthesh wished to contest for the Haveri Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections.
